Travel Diary - Part I - Lisbon, Portugal - Conference and Sightseeing

Today I bring you Part I of my Travel Diary, Conference and Sightseeing in Lisbon, Portugal!

I was given the opportunity to attend a Biological Methylation Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, where I was able to meet the experts in the field, whose papers and publications I have been reading since I started graduate school! It was such a great experience, and it was 5 days full of science, all directly related to my field of work! I've been to other conferences, that were more broad and general, and I didn't enjoy them as much as I enjoyed this conference! I was just putting up my poster during the first session (my session was the second one) and I got stopped immediately and was talking about my research the whole two hours, and then the whole two hours at my actual session! It was such a great feeling to have people who knew about my research and were genuinely interested - talking science for 4 hours and getting so many good ideas of things to try! I even won the poster award, along with a travel award, which gave me some funding to help with my travel expenses!

Traveling to conferences is a BIG thing I would suggest to anyone who is in grad school. I have taken advantage of conferences to feed my travel bug, and it has opened up so many doors and networking opportunities! And if your boss/advisor can pay for you, it is a free ticket to travel (most of the time!). I have always taken advantage of vacation time after the conferences I've been to - Like last year I was in Barcelona for a conference and I traveled to visit my family in Cyprus afterwards, and this year I traveled to France after! So definitely a way to enjoy your time by having an international conference and using it as an excuse to travel around! Of course, any travel after a conference is on your dime, but compared to the full price of a plane ticket TO europe, its not too bad :) and I had some savings that I put aside especially for a european trip that I utilized to pay for this trip! It was amazing, because after I passed my candidacy exam, I told myself, when I graduate, I'm going to travel around europe, and I made a list of all of these cities I wanted to visit, and I made part of it happen! Graduation happened and I got to check off a few cities (not all of them, but a few is better than none!).

Scroll down to read more about the various photos I took (all with my iPhone 6!! Amazing camera for a phone!).

The conference even organized a wine tasting tour in the Marfa province, which was about a 45 min drive from where the conference was being held, and it was really great drinking wine in the countryside with professors and experts in my field! It was unreal and like a dream!

Episode 3 - Survival Guide to Grad School - 6 Tips on Surviving First Year!

Happy Weekend!

Today I'm bringing you the third episode in my "Survival Guide to Grad School" Series - this time I'm talking about 6 Tips to get through First Year!

First year was tough for me - from moving across the country away from my family and friends, to finally getting serious about research while taking classes and TAing... it can become a lot! So take some of my tips if you are in a grad program (or thinking about it), and save your sanity by learning from my mistakes!

Are there any other tips you have from when you went through grad school that you wish someone told you sooner?

Do you have any ideas for topics I should discuss next or any ideas for what you want to see next?
I'm really trying to produce more YouTube videos, so do let me know and if you fancy, subscribe to my channel to be updated when a new video posts! I will be doing some makeup looks next also :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

xo

Andrea

Going Out/Conference Formal/Social outing Look - Recycling Pieces to make the most of your Wardrobe

Happy Monday!

Today I'm bringing you a new outfit post featuring recycled pieces that you might have seen on the blog before (Ie. in this holiday outfit post HERE). Since I've spent a lot of traveling lately, my bank account is crying right now... so I decided to recycle pieces to create a whole different look!
In this outfit, I wore the bright red lace top I featured  before, with a black bandage mini skirt from Topshop from a few years ago! The outfit was simple and I wore my favorite Nine West heels that I have worn at conferences and are comfy enough to wear for a few hours. This is an outfit you can wear to a conference social (I wouldn't wear this to give a talk, but for getting drinks after the conference is over, I think it's fine!).
The accessories make the outfit shine, and I am rewearing one of my favorite bracelets, the Tassel Bracelet from the Yayoi Collection from Boyajian Trend Gallery, and a rhinestone bracelet from H&M I believe (given to me by my friend Samira!).
I used my little black pocketbook that doubles as a wallet from Express. and I curled my hair using my flat iron. If you are paying attention to my social media, I did cut my hair recently, so this was taken before I cut my hair (and I'm missing my long hair! T_T), but I will have some tutorials soon about styling short hair for the lab!
The best thing about this outfit? I didn't spend a dime, and I created a somewhat different look/look for a different occasion.

Ole Henriksen VoxBox Review - Youtube video!

I'm finally back with a new post! Sorry for being MIA the last few weeks - but I have been active over on my social media, so if you aren't following me yet over on Instagram or Snapchat -- go do it now! I post daily over there!
Life has been so crazy lately, with TAing this Spring quarter, interviewing, graduation, my family visiting, attending a scientific conference in Portugal, traveling to France, and then trying to finish up a paper (one of the final chapters of my dissertation!), so I apologize!
But I am trying to get back a work/life balance and getting back to my blogging! I will hopefully be shooting some outfits this weekend, so I will be bringing you more posts!
I am also trying to get back into making YouTube videos, so go check out my channel and subscribe!

Today's post, I bring you a video review of some skin care products by Ole Henriksen I received through the Influencer App Voxbox! Since I was traveling and anything and everything I wanted, my skin was super upset at me, haha! Traveling, different weather conditions, drinking 3-5 coffees a day, irregular sleep schedule, jet lag, you name it, my whole routine was out of whack! It's amazing how your skin can react!

View the video below, and let me know if you have used any of these products before, if they've worked for you, or if you have used any other products that worked well!

(Isn't my thumbnail so flattering?! :D hahaha!)

Do let me know your thoughts about my first real youtube review below, and let me know if you prefer video or text post reviews!! I'm curious!

Take it easy!

Until next time,

Andrea

xo

* I was sent these products from Influenster Voxbox, but this does not affect my honest opinion on the products, opinions are 100% mine! *

I'm a Dr - PhD (Almost!) Graduation

Hey loves!
Sorry for the lack of posts this month but I am back! I've been so crazy busy with the end of TAing (finally finished grading and entered in my grades!), graduation, family visiting, doing research, and getting ready for an international conference that I'm leaving for tomorrow!
I'm so excited for the conference, I get to finally meet the experts in my field that I read their research papers all the time, and I get to be in an amazing location (secret right now, check my instagram for the reveal!!) , and I am traveling also afterwards (again, check my instagram to figure out where I'm going!).
My parents came for graduation, and I found out I won a dissertation research award at graduation, and I also won the dissertation year fellowship, which will give me funding for the next year if I choose to stay longer.... so I am "graduated" but not done completely yet!
Graduation was a great day, it was cloudy so I was worried it would rain, but it ended up being perfect weather and great lighting for photos. I expected to be more emotional about graduation but I think because I'm not technically 100% done, I was just plain happy to be celebrated. Such a wonderful and happy milestone, so much hard work and tears.